Do We Really Need a Reason to Indulge?

Abstract

The authors document consistent discrepancies among consumers’ predicted, actual, and remembered feelings related to indulgence episodes and conceptualize the underlying processes. Consistent with previous research, consumers expect more negative and less positive feelings when they indulge without a reason than when they indulge with a reason (Study 1) or when they indulge as a consolation for poor performance than when they indulge as a reward for high effort (Study 2). However, episodic reports pertaining to the last indulgence episode show no influence of having versus not having a reason (Study 1), nor do concurrent reports show a difference between indulging as a consolation and indulging as a reward (Study 2). When asked how they “usually” feel when indulging with versus without a reason (Study 3), consumers’ global memories are consistent with their expectations rather than with their actual experiences. These findings have implications for the conditions under which consumers learn from experience.

Enjoy! Hedonic Consumption and Compliance with Assertive Messages

“…Then all participants rated two items on a 7-point scale: the degree to which they felt happy and in good mood when thinking of the product. Participants also answered three guilt-related items ("feel guilty/it would be a mistake/will regret"), adapted from Xu and Schwartz (2009). After answering the questions, participants turned the page and read a simple message: "You must (try our chocolate) open a bank account with us" for an assertive phrasing and "It's worth (trying our chocolate) opening a bank account with us" for a nonassertive phrasing.…”

“…Study 1 also seeks to rule out a key alternative explanation. Assertive requests might lead to higher compliance in hedonic consumption contexts if individuals use these requests to reduce feelings of guilt, blaming self-indulgent behaviors on the external pressure (e.g., Khan and Dhar 2006;Kivetz 2005;Kivetz and Keinan 2006;Strahilevitz and Myers 1998;Xu and Schwartz 2009;Zheng and Kivetz 2009). …”

Consumer Guilt: A Model of Its Antecedents and Consequences

“…Emotional fluctuations, desires, indulgences, impulsive and compulsive urges are found to play a role in conflictions between goals and standards (e.g. Keinan and Kivetz 2008;Rook 1987;Xu and Schwarz 2009). Guilt-inducing self-control failures driven by both internal and external sources are found to arise due to the failure of the consumer's selfmonitoring capabilities and one's capacity to alter the self (Cervone et al 2006;Dedeoglu and Kazancoglu 2010).…”

“…Hedonic consumption is suggested to provide people with experiential enjoyment, satisfying both psychological and physiological needs that necessities may not be able meet (Hirschman andHolbrook 1982, Xu andSchwarz 2009). In addition to feelings of pleasure, consumers could simultaneously perceive negative aspects and feel guilt.…”

“…Consumer guilt has been researched along with its antecedents, such as impulsive and compulsive consumption (Hassay and Smith 1996;Miao 2011;O'Guinn and Faber 1989;Puri 1996;Rook 1987;Sengupta and Zhou 2007), hedonism, desire and indulgences (Belk et al 2003;Kivetz and Simonson 2002;Ramanathan and Williams 2007;Sela, Berger and Liu 2008;Okada 2005;Xu and Schwarz 2009). Some other studies focused on types and consequences of consumer guilt (Bagozzi et al 2000;Cooke, Meyvis and Schwartz 2001;Meyvis and Cooke 2007;Tsiros and Mittal 2000) and consumers' coping responses (Dahl et al 2005;Duhachek 2005;Kahn, Dhar and Fischbach 2009;Yi and Baumgartner 2004).…”